Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the second Illini win over Rutgers

The Illinois basketball team finished their rough season off with a win over Rutgers on Sunday.

This was a game the Illini needed to win to show they still had some fight left entering the Big Ten Tournament. Rutgers kept the game close for a while but Illinois eventually would pull away at the end.

The Scarlet Knights came out of the gates strong on Sunday. They took an early 8-4 lead over the Illini a few minutes into the game. Illinois didn’t let that lead last long, though. Aaron Jordan made a three-pointer to regain the lead over Rutgers 9-8. The Illini held this lead up until the 5:41 mark in the first half when Rutgers took the lead back 26-25. Illinois finished the first half strong and went into the locker room with the score showing 35-30 in favor of the Orange and Blue.

Rutgers came out of halftime firing. They took the lead less than two minutes into the second half 36-35. But, once again, Illinois fought back. They nailed a few three-point shots and regained the lead. That would be the last time the Scarlet Knights would see their score higher than Illinois’ score. The Illini even got the lead up to as much as 15 points at one time. The final score read 75-62 with Illinois coming out on top.

Here are my five takeaways from the second Illini win over Rutgers